A Recap on What Happened This Week: Asian Startup News Overview (July 29th

By: Asia Business Outlook Team | Friday, 04 August 2023

August sees a noticeable increase in funding and investments, with a clear presence of abundant resources. Although the unrestricted inflow of Chinese capital has had a significant impact on the growth trajectory of businesses in many Asian countries, it is worth noting that American businesses have also strategically penetrated the Asian market, with largely positive results. This trend, where local companies engage in healthy competition with their American counterparts fueled by Chinese investments, is observable across various countries. Beyond the realm of smart-phone technologies and internet services, Asia today commands a substantial 60% share of the global semiconductor shipments, underscoring its pivotal role in the tech industry. Notably, hardware startups in Shenzen, China are experiencing exponential growth, mirroring the rapid expansion of software-focused startups in Bangalore, India, particularly within the B2B segment. Meanwhile, Singapore stands out for its governmental promotion of Fin-Tech, actively endorsing the Smart Nation initiative, which has galvanized the local startup scene in these domains.

This week, we saw several announcements from startups from various regions. For example, Good morning, a food-tech company based in Malaysia has raised MYR 20 million through equity crowd- funding whereas an Indonesian firm named GENEXYZ that provides virtual influencer and human IPs, announced the close of a $1 million seed funding round led by East Ventures on August 2.

These are some of the best startups that were fortunate this week.

Good Morning

Good Morning Global Group, a food-tech company based in Malaysia, has raised MYR 20 million ($4.41 million) through equity crowd-funding. Good Morning Global announced last Friday that it had raised the fund from 1,046 investors.

Dr. Lim Sin Boon, the firm’s Founder and Executive Chairman, described the success of the equity crowd-funding campaign as a watershed moment in the company's commitment to improving consumer health and creating value for shareholders.

He reaffirmed the group's commitment to contributing to a shared global future by addressing challenges such as climate change, rising sea levels, and food crises by promoting affordable nutritionally balanced plant-based protein food. He attributed Good Morning's rise to the top grain beverage brand in Malaysia, with a remarkable 70% market share, to its customers' unwavering support and love.

Rapyd

Rapyd, Israel's fintech-as-a-service startup has paid $610 million for global investor and internet giant Prosus' payment group PayU. The Dutch investment firm is selling its stake in PayU's Global Payment Organization (GPO), which covers nearly 30 countries, but will retain operations in India, Turkey, and Southeast Asia.

PayU will now focus on the "rapidly growing Indian payments and credit business," according to a statement from Prosus. Under its subsidiary PayU India, it currently serves over 450,000 merchants and over 2 million credit customers in the country.

"PayU's payments business is one of the largest, fastest growing, and most profitable non-banking businesses in India, with 42% year on year growth in the last year alone." Overall, India's digital financial services opportunity remains large and underserved, providing healthy growth for PayU India', said PayU CEO Laurent le Moal.

Cerebry

Cerebry, a Singapore-based artificial intelligence (AI) ed-tech startup, has announced that it has raised a $1 million seed round led by Vietnam-based venture capital firm Ascend Vietnam Ventures (AVV).

The company said in a statement that the funding round also saw participation from Pentathlon Ventures and strategic investors. With the funding, Cerebry plans to continue expanding its AI-powered practice platform to offer adaptive learning to millions of K-12 students in Asia Pacific (APAC).

The firm plans to develop their product further by expanding to new domains like science. Cerebry will also broaden its customer base, including new geographies such as Vietnam and Japan.

“We already see an average student solve more than 150 problems monthly on Cerebry outside of the classroom.

Airalo

Airalo, the Singapore-based eSIM marketplace, announced the completion of its Series B financing round on August 1, raising an impressive $60 million. This round of funding, led by e& capital, the investment arm of e&, the global technology group, brings Airalo's total funding to $67.3 million, according to a statement from the company.

Among the prestigious investors who took part were Antler Elevate, Liberty Global, Orange, T.Capital, Rakuten Capital, Singtel Innov8, Telefónica Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, and Southeast Asia's (now known as Peak XV Partners) Surge, KPN Ventures, and I2BF Global Ventures.

This diverse consortium of investors, according to Airalo, reflects industry-wide recognition of Airalo's transformative work in making global connectivity accessible and affordable for travellers worldwide.

GENEXYZ

GENEXYZ, an Indonesian firm that provides virtual influencer and human IPs, announced the close of a $1 million seed funding round led by East Ventures on August 2. Other investors in this round of funding include Emtek, MDI, Trinity Optima, and Massive Music, according to GENEXYZ.

Future Creative Network (FCN), a previous round investor, also took part.

The company intends to use the funding to expand its business reach to the Southeast Asian market and develop more interactive technology that can effectively connect with relevant communities and maximize its impact on clients, according to the statement.

“We are delighted to have earned the trust of our investors through this funding round.